THE CAR AND THE WEDDING

I met Laurel in 1971 at the beginning of my senior year at ORU. We initially planned for the wedding to take place the following summer, but a friend and fellow student challenged me. “Billy Long, you are a man of faith. If you really know in your heart that she is the one, why don’t you go ahead and have the wedding over Christmas break?” His words were the nudge that I needed. So, we set the date for the following January 9.

In order to do that, we would have to drive from Tulsa to Longs, South Carolina, a community about 8 miles from North Myrtle Beach. We would pick up my mother and the three of us would drive from SC to Laurel’s family in Orange County, California. Then after the wedding, my mother would fly back to SC, and Laurel and I would drive back to Tulsa for me to complete my senior year at ORU. But all that driving is hard to do when you don’t have a car. So Laurel and I began to plan for the wedding and pray for a car.

There is a prayer chapel on the ground floor of the men’s dorm. It is a very small room with some “pews” and an altar area up front. The fellows who went in there to pray would usually leave the lights off and pray with no lights except that which came in through the stained-glass windows in the door. I went into that little room and began to pray. I knelt at that altar and lifted my heart to the Lord and thanked him for sending Laurel to me, and I asked Him for a car so we could get married over Christmas break. While I was praying, the Lord’s presence came into that room. His presence was so real I felt I could reach out and touch Him. In that moment HE spoke so clearly to my heart, “I am going to give you a car.” I knew without a doubt that it was going to happen. Automatically I lifted both hands and arms to Him and began to thank Him for the car that would surely come.

I called my family back home and told them I would be getting married over the Christmas break and that the Lord was going to give me a car. We began planning the trip…without a car…but knowing it was “on the way.” Then one day I was sitting at a table in the student union building with a couple friends. I saw a set of keys lying on the table and told my friends that someone had left their keys. My friends had been waiting for me to notice the keys. One of them said, “Billy, these are yours. The car is in the parking lot.” With eager anticipation, I went to the parking lot to see the car. A family from Ohio, parents of another ORU student, had driven the car to Tulsa to give it to us. I found out much later that Bill and Iva Rodgers and Trinity Chapel, the church fellowship that Laurel was a part of in California, had taken up an offering and bought the car for us. We did not know of their involvement until a year or two later.

Now, just to set the record straight, the car was not new. It was an older model Oldsmobile. It needed new tires. The front of the hood was damaged, and the latch was broken and had to be tied down. In addition to all that, the car needed a new muffler. The existing one had holes in it and made a good bit of noise as I drove down the street.

Normally these flaws would be daunting and produce fear and lack of faith. But the Lord’s word to me had been so strong and clear that I knew this car was a gift from God, and I was certain it would make the trip. Not everyone was convinced. I was talking with one of the managers at University Village, a retirement home on the edge of ORU campus. He asked me, “Billy, are you sure you want to drive that car across country. I don’t think I’d trust it.”

I told him, “The Lord gave me that car; It will make the trip.” Laurel and I knew Jesus would continue to show His miraculous hand at work in our behalf.

The first item to deal with was the muffler. I drove the car to a Tulsa dealership. The owner was a Christian and knew I was an ORU student. He installed the new muffler and, to my surprise, would not let me pay for it. The Lord had somehow moved on his heart, and he simply gave me a new muffler. I thanked him and I thanked God. I knew the Lord was with Laurel and me and would bless the car and the trip.

With the hood tied down and on bare ties, Laurel and I, along with another student, drove that car straight through from Tulsa to my home in Longs, South Carolina, a community near Myrtle Beach, SC. We only stopped once to take a short nap in the car.

When we arrived at my home. I think my dad was a little perplexed at the busted hood and bare tires. But he never expressed doubt or discouraged me in any way. He had a quiet faith. My mother was more outspoken.

My uncle Willie and Aunt Linda, who were Spirit-filled Christians, came to greet me and meet Laurel. When Willie saw those tires he said, “Drive over to Conway tomorrow and I’ll buy you a new set of tires. My Uncle Jesse saw the problem with the hood latch and offered to fix it. I drove the car to his home in Florence and He installed a “new” hood he found at a salvage yard. The car was now in great condition. It had a new muffler, new tires, and a “new” hood. However, the car was two or three different colors. Most of the car was beige. The new hood was black. I think we attracted a lot of attention as we drove down the street, but we and the car were prepared for the drive to Laurel’s home and the wedding in California.

My mother, Laurel, and I then left SC headed for California. We stopped overnight in Tulsa and then continued to her home in Orange County. After the wedding Laurel and I drove back to ORU, and my mother flew back home to South Carolina. And so began a new chapter in the life of Billy and Laurel Long.